X-treme X-men #5 Review

Sage links her teammates to her personal virtual reality simulator so they can witness a fraction of a prophecy she has managed to decrypt from the diary they contain. Rogue then accuses Storm of knowing Xavier would go public with him being a mutant she admits she did. Rogue is not amused, just then they receive a report that Gambit is wanted for the death of a man. They rush to the scene and investigate Bishop thinks he may be responsible while Rogue is offended he would think Gambit could commit murder. She storm off after they realize that the man’s children who he kept secret may also be in danger.

Since Rouge still has traces of Gambits personality in her she tracks him down to Chinatown where big trouble hits. There powers get shut down and they have to fight off a whole gun wielding mob. By the time they confront the leader he is assassinated with a card, framing Gambit for another murder. They then get attacked by Red Lotus a Chinese martial artist. He takes down our powerless pair and they are prepared for torture.

The Good

Continuity- I loved how events taking place in New X-men by Grant Morrison get referenced continually here. The prophecy relating to Xavier suggests Claremont may have been privy to the secret of Cassandra Nova being Xavier’s twin sister and her plan to use the shiar to destroy the x-men, very clever Claremont and Morrison. Wolverine and Scott’s battle with a sentinel at the beginning of New X-men is also mentioned along with the distrust this team currently harbors for those at the mansion since Xavier has four of the volumes of Destiny’s diaries. I also like the referencing of Gambit and Bishops bitter friendship, Rogues love for the man, her lack of control at this time, this is continuity gold.

Storm- What can be said about Claremont’s rendition of Storm except perfection! This is the definitive Storm. Strong beautiful and yup making the hard decisions. She assembled this team to get the diaries yes BUT they are also the x-men she trusts the most especially in light of Emma joining there ranks and Xavier outing the school as a place for mutants among other things. New readers are also treated to a brief synopsis from her friends about her time as a thief and goddess, the icing on the cake has to be when she sues her powers to perceive the world in the form of pure energy……kick ass feat! One that makes me wonder why craption has her as a token black nowadays and she was such a damsel in Doomwar. Also worth note is that Storm can be called on to make tough decisions for the good of the team. Sure she’s more often than not the mother of the team who thinks every person is necessary for the good of the overall team but she can also make the team more important than the individual something else tragically not played out in Fraction’s run on X-men where the only possible leaders for mutant kind are Wolverine and Cyclops?!

Action-Rogue and Gambits powerless barroom brawl was very entertaining. The art conveyed the flow of battle impressively.

Art -Beautiful art as always from Larroca

Cover- Bishop flanked by Thunderbird with dynamic colors, she is a beauty!

Team dynamic- Rogue is the wildcard, Sage is our Tech support, Storm leads, Thunderbird is our rookie and Bishop is the level headed take no shit teammate. Typical team but the chemistry is palpable. Rogue and Bishop clash by sheer principle of personalities. Neal allows banter to do the back-story he should be the person new readers relate to he’s their eyes and ears in this new world. They play off each other well, the mystery of Sage is still ripe at this point as well…is she a spy in the ranks or something else?

The Bad

Thunderbird- He still serves no purpose on this team. He’s both useless and annoying!

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I'm a Caribbean born Lecturer, Multidisciplinary specialist/Androgogue/Philosophical Pedagogue; with backgrounds in Philosophy, Social Studies and Geography; founder/CEO of World of Black Heroes, freelance writer and all around comic book geek. I enjoy a good book, video games, movies and most of all fatherhood. Written credits include work for Islandstage.net where my writing inspired the music compiliation "Kindah" available in multiple languages on Itunes, The Caribbean Journal of Education, The University of the west indies, Comicvine, Independent comics etc.